Arvid Lindblad: Meet the Racing Bulls driver who told Lando Norris in 2021 that he would be in F1 within five years | F1 News

“Lando, I hope you remember me. See you in five years.”

That’s what then-14-year-old British karting star Arvid Lindblad said to Lando Norris as the two shook hands in the paddock at Italy’s Adria Karting Raceway in 2021.

Norris was there to launch his own karting team, and the cocky Lindblad, who is set to move up from Formula 2 to Formula 1 with the Racing Bulls in early 2026, decided to send him a message.

“It was really like an impulse. I was talking to a teammate at the track and I saw Lando,” said Lindblad, now 18. sky sports.

“I said to my friend, ‘I’m going to race that guy in F1 soon’ and my friend said, ‘You don’t have the courage to tell him’ and I wanted to prove him wrong!

“So I went straight to Lando and he was very friendly. He said, ‘It was nice to meet you after five years.’ I was inspired by what Lewis Hamilton said to Ron Dennis (he’s about to join McLaren) and it was a similar vibe, so my friend just egged me on!

“That was at the end of 2021, so I hope he has a good year in F2 and keeps his promise in F1!”

Watching Hamilton as a kid

Lindblad’s comments about Hamilton date back to 1995, when a 10-year-old Hamilton told then McLaren team principal Dennis at the Autosport Awards that he wanted to race one of his F1 cars.

Hamilton was continuing to win titles with Mercedes when Lindblad, who was first introduced to go-karts at the age of five, grew up watching F1.

“I remember when I was four or five years old and Seb (Vettel) won, but it wasn’t much,” he said.

“As you can imagine, I was seven or eight years old when Lewis started winning, and that was when I started to understand the sport a little better.

“I came into this field when he was British and successful. He was also a person of colour, his F1 rookie season was in 2007 and I was born in 2007, so I thought there was some sort of cool connection. I always felt some sense of belonging to him.”

Born in Surrey, Lindblad has a Swedish father and an Indian mother. He had always raced under the British flag and had obvious talent from an early age.

Current Formula E champion Oliver Rowland takes Lindblad under his wing and describes the teenager as “special”.

“I first met Arvid in 2016 when I got a call from my old go-kart team, Zip Kart, which has been really instrumental in my career,” Rowland explained.

“They said, ‘We have this little kid, he has potential and he seems good.’ He was 7 at the time. They asked me if I would be interested in coaching, and I was pretty busy at the time, so I said, ‘Let me come and take a look at him.’”

“I went down to the karting rink, Whilton Mill, on my first day and was quite impressed by the sight of a 7-year-old running around.

“What impressed me the most was his maturity for that age. He was so curious about my racing and how he could go faster. Obviously, all he lived and breathed was the idea of ​​being a racing driver. It was quite strange at such a young age.”

meteor cart rises

Rowland started a karting team, Oliver Rowland Motorsport, for Lindblad. The latter and his family were not happy with the cart setup at the time.

Lindblad won the British Championship and soon began competing at world karting level, competing for the title against drivers older than him.

“From the beginning I wanted to try to get into Formula 1 and become a world champion,” he said.

“When I was 7 or 8, I was always a young athlete because I wasn’t old enough to actually race. I was racing in the 8-13 division and there were moments when I was really fast, as fast as the good guys.

“I gained some confidence from there and when I was nine or 10 I went on to fight for the British Championships and win the British Championships.

“Then I went to Europe and it was pretty good. I don’t think there was a distinct moment where I thought, ‘Maybe I can be good enough.’ I just kind of woke up.

“Everything I did, I wanted to win and it was always about trying to get better and how I could improve. I think that’s a big part of it. When I was racing, my dad said it was much more important to focus on me and my development. So I have a driver coach and everything else to focus on me. It’s always about ‘How can I get better?’

“Then I just took it in my stride and focused on every rung of the ladder and tried to do as good a job as possible.”

Become a Red Bull Junior

As is becoming increasingly common, those who shine in karting make the jump to Formula 4 as soon as they turn 15. This is the minimum age for car racing.

Lindblad has done just that and has already garnered support from Red Bull, signing him at the age of 13 at the end of 2020.

“I was 13 at the time, so I don’t know the ins and outs of what happened. I was focused on the result and the performance, because that’s the most important thing in any sport,” he said.

“I remember very well that there was some communication between my father and the team members who were connected to Red Bull, but I don’t know the details.

“I remember very well being with my father in a hotel in Portimao. We were testing for the (karting) world championships. One morning we were having breakfast and my father’s phone was on the table and it rang.

“It had a number and underneath it it said ‘Graz, Austria.’ I didn’t really think much about it. I thought, ‘Who could that be?’ because I had no idea there had been any discussion at the time.

“I remember knowing what was happening because I saw him hopping around a bit with his phone in his hand.

“He came back and said that Dr. Marko would like to meet with us to discuss joining the program, which obviously I was very excited about.

“We then met him on Sunday morning at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix, where he asked me to join the program and that’s how it started.”

Climb the single-seater ranks

Lindblad exceeded the expectations of those who were watching him and his career closely, finishing third overall in the first Italian F4 season of 2023.

He won the Macau F4 World Cup race later that year, and was promoted to F3 in 2024. Although he didn’t win the championship, Lindblad’s outright speed and ability to adapt to faster machines raised eyebrows.

At Silverstone he won both races, including a stunning performance in mixed conditions that once left him at the back of the field.

However, his championship challenge was derailed due in part to misfortune as he failed to score any more points over the final six race weekends.

Despite this, Lindblad impressed many and earned a call up to F2, where he endured a season mixed with blistering speed and mistakes.

He won the sprint in Saudi Arabia and then converted pole position into a win in Spain, but has never really been in the title hunt. But Red Bull were impressed enough to give him a chance to move up to F1.

How Lindblad won the Super License and impressed in F1 practice

Lindblad holds a super license to drive in F1 after winning the Formula Regional Oceania Championship in early 2025.

Red Bull clearly sees Lindblad as a potential future star and has a history of fast-tracking drivers into F1. This is the latest example of how young drivers are treated.

He completed two private tests at Imola earlier this year aboard the 2023 AlphaTauri before making his free practice debut with Red Bull at the British Grand Prix in July and the Mexico City Grand Prix in October, impressing for Red Bull on both occasions.

His sixth place in Mexico was notable in that he was faster than Yuki Tsunoda using the same equipment and was the fastest of the nine rookies taking part in the session.

“He was told, ‘Don’t do anything wrong and don’t crash the car,’” said Helmut Marko, an adviser to Red Bull.

“But he still performed well and was the fastest rookie. His technical feedback was also impressive, so we are very happy with him.”

Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies added: “I think he did a great job. It’s so difficult to take a step forward in FP1. It’s very different from a testing day. There aren’t as many tires, there aren’t as many laps.

“He did a very good job. You saw it on the timetable. He was very calm. He gave all the right feedback. He didn’t put a wrong foot. He didn’t crash the car. Honestly, he impressed us in FP1, there’s no doubt about that.”

So can Lindblad become an F1 champion?

It may be very early to ask this question, but Lindblad’s mentor Rowland was optimistic earlier this year when he said Britain had another big motorsport talent on its hands.

“I rate Arvid at the highest level. He has everything it takes to become an F1 world champion and has the potential to do so much more,” he said.

“The journey from now to that point is still a long one, so there’s a lot for him to learn, a lot for him to develop. Formula 1 is not just about the driver in some cases, but I absolutely believe that at the moment he is in, he will be a future world champion.”

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